It’s a very simple practice to begin: Sit down. Focus your attention on your breathing, watching it move in and out. When you notice a thought or fantasy or memory you’re caught up in, return your focus to your breathe. Sometimes the thoughts are so loud and anxious that it feels impossible to even find your breathe, let alone focus on it. Or you will follow the breath and then ten minutes later you’re suddenly aware that you have been obsessing on something someone said to you last week. That’s normal, just refocus on the breathe.
Learning to be present with whatever conditions we find is the key. A thought comes, you see it, and let it go. Let go without judgment or praise or obsession, just let go. This may be the most difficult part. It’s amazing to discover how much I beat myself up for a single thought (and its subsequent emotions). Or how much I build myself up over some elusive desire I think will save me. To witness the workings of the mind, to learn from it rather than associate my sense of self with it; this is magic. And yet accessible to anyone, anywhere, anytime.
Practicing this reaps its own benefits, but taking it to daily life is what I have found most useful. Because when I am aware and mindful (which is achieved by staying present) then I can witness my reactions to this or that, or where I'm holding on to anger, or what the source of some irritation or jubilation comes from. This is wisdom. This is a way to “know thyself." And in knowing myself, I know the Divine. Pema Chodron said, “The source of wisdom is whatever is happening to us right at this very moment,” when she speaks of the teacher that never leaves us. And Sogyal Rinpoche refers to “bringing our mind back home.” This moment is home. This moment is our access to the all-consuming One. It is heaven, now.
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